Social Security Compassionate Allowance List Growing
Nancy Berryhill, the Acting Commissioner of Social Security announced three new Compassionate Allowances conditions in early September 2017. The three new conditions are: CACH/Vanishing White Matter Disease-Infantile and Childhood Onset Forms, Congenital Myotonic Dystrophy, and Kleefstra Syndrome. Compassionate Allowances are a way to quickly identify serious diseases and other medical conditions that meet Social Security’s standards for disability benefits.
“Social Security is committed – now and in the future – to continue to identify and fast-track diseases that are certain or near-certain to be approved for disability benefits,” said Acting Commissioner Berryhill.
The Compassionate Allowances program finds claims where the applicant’s disease or condition clearly meets Social Security’s statutory standard for disability. Many of these claims are allowed based on medical confirmation of the diagnosis alone, for example pancreatic cancer, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and acute leukemia.
For compassionate allowance cases, the Social Security Administration identifies potential Compassionate Allowances (via the diagnosis found in medical records and alleged conditions on your application or request for reconsideration) and quickly make decisions.
When a person applies for disability benefits, Social Security must obtain medical records to make an accurate determination. It may take weeks for health care organizations to provide records for the applicant’s case. With electronic records transmission, Social Security can quickly get a claimant’s medical information, review it, and decide disability quickly.
“The Compassionate Allowances and Health IT programs are making a real difference by ensuring that Americans with disabilities quickly receive the benefits they need,” stated Ms. Berryhill.
For more information about the program, including a list of all Compassionate Allowances conditions, please visit www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances.
